Hard drive

Hi the drive I want to install w7 on has only been used as an external drive for storage when I come to install w7 it says that it can't find a OS or partition on the drive do I delete or format the drive so it can install w7 on it. It is installed inside the pc now as a 2nd drive

 

If you are wanting to install windows on that drive, you need to format first and then create a partition in the drive to install windows on, or create a partition and then format just that partition before installing windows. The setup process should pretty much walk you through what you want to do, just follow the prompts.

The size of the partition depends on whether you are installing the 32bit or 64 bit version of windows 7. You should give the 32bit about a 25gb partition (absolute minimum 16gb), and the 64bit about 30 (minimum 20). If you're not sure what version you have, it should say on the disc itself or the documentation with it.

Since you mentioned you were using the hdd for storage, make certain you have backed up everything you want to keep onto a separate hdd or other storage before you format the hdd, as any data on the disc will be erased in the format.

 

Hi thanks for all the advice I formatted the disc then did a clean install all's working well fingers crossed